Harvest of Ancient Sorrows

Preview Chapters 16-18

**Sorry that I missed a few week. I went on vacation and when I got back, my mother went into the hospital. She is doing much better, but I’ve had to be with her daily for the past three weeks.

Warning: Professional editing will come but its not here yet. Read at your own grammatical risk. Also, the contents of these chapters will be altered during the editing process so some events/scenes may change drastically.

Chapter 16

Kerma City, Zoru, An 5660, Day 76

Abu helped Miss Louisa put down the large, heavy bag she carried. He wiped the mist from his eyes and readjusted his waxed poncho to protect his face better. The roar of Tefnut Falls overwhelmed every other sound as they unpacked their supplies.

It had taken them most of the morning to load everything they needed for their Seba experiments onto the horse. Two of the three lancers accompanying them stayed with the animal. They waited far enough down the cliff path to be well away from the giant falls spray and out of range of the Seba’s transfer dome. The lancers would observe the effects of the beam and track the time between transfers.

Sowar Negi helped Miss Louisa put out the sandbags. Abu thought the sowar, out of the three lancers helping them with the experiment, must have drawn the short straw. Last night, he spent several hours with Abu learning to operate the Seba.

Common sense told Abu to avoid universe-traversing travel unless necessary. Even knowing that someone had to test the new settings. So here he was, a test subject along with the reluctant sowar.

Abu hoped that after today, they would have enough information to halt the testing process. If the small dome’s radius could accommodate the entire party, they’d only need one round trip.

“Abu, please lay out the Seba and make sure to set the destination to take us back to our last campsite,” Miss Louisa shouted into his ear. “We don’t want to show up in the canyon and get captured by the villagers.”

With a nod, Abu moved to do as instructed and then had a moment of panic. What if the Seba couldn’t hear his voice command to display the different selections? He didn’t want to march back to the horse just to be heard.

Just have to give it a go, he thought.

With his pants soaked through, Abu wriggled from discomfort as he paced off to the middle of the tiny plateau. He located the device far from the giant metal doors set into the cliff, so when he activated it, the beam of light struck the roof of water rushing over the rock overhang. Abu laid the four spheres out in the correct pattern.

Here goes nothing, Abu thought as he raised the diamond-shaped object to his mouth and shouted, “Squawk, squawk.”

“Praise Allah,” he muttered as the floating characters appeared.

The column of Ancients’ symbols kept floating above the double pyramid as he placed it on the ground in the center of the square formed by the spheres.

Abu poked the characters that stood for the destination, and a lifelike globe popped into existence, replacing the lines of the Ancients’ text. He spun the ethereal Earth around with a hand until Egypt came into view. More significant than the other white pinpricks, the brighter light glowed inside the imaginary borders of Egypt. The other pinpricks around the globe didn’t make sense. What’s different?

Rotating the blue planet around, Abu peered at each spark. It wasn’t until he saw the two lights near his hometown of Aleppo that it hit him. The Egyptian lights represented multiple destinations bunched up together. Abu moved his head an inch above the Egyptian light but still couldn’t make out the differences. How do I look closer?

A tap on his shoulder caused Abu to yelp and jump. Louisa laughed at him as she moved her mouth close to his ear. “What’s wrong?”

“There are a lot of lights in that one location. We need to get lower to the ground over Egypt.”

She nodded, her mouth forming a frown. “Ask it to get closer.”

Abu shrugged. It worked to bring up the options, so maybe it would work. It took him a moment to remember how to say ‘closer’ and ‘bigger’ in the Ancients’ tongue. Going to his knees, he bent below the globe and put his mouth near the diamond object.

“Caw,” he shouted. Nothing happened. “Tweet.” Again nothing.

They’d hit a real roadblock. Abu couldn’t just press the larger light, hoping to get lucky. What if they appeared in front of the villagers? That would be a disaster. He stood, held his hands open, and bobbed his shoulders, trying to signal his lack of options.

Miss Louisa tapped a finger on her chin, a drop of water falling from her nose with each tap. She spread her hands wide and hugged the ball of blue. With a hand in the Pacific Ocean and another in the Atlantic, she squeezed the representation of Earth like a balloon. To Abu’s amazement, the planet shrunk, staying inside her grasp. She pulled her hands apart, and the sphere of the planet stayed small. Miss Louisa’s chest heaved a sigh.

Grabbing the blue ball again, Miss Louisa dug her fingers into the apparition and pulled accordion-style. The ball grew and kept growing until she let go. Twice as big as it had been when it first appeared, Abu didn’t even need to bend to see the features of the landscape over Egypt. Miss Louisa dusted off her wet hands with a look of smugness.

Abu leaned in and yelled, “Great job.”

She pointed to the section of the map about two inches by two inches. A light pulsed outside the mountainous terrain at the center of the Sinai Desert. Two more lights blinked nearby. One lit up inside a miniature box canyon, while another sparkled next to the crescent valley where the tiny temple stood. Abu poked where she pointed. That spark became bigger and brighter than the other lights.

Miss Louisa waved Sowar Negi to them, and they put their heads together.

“We’re ready.” Miss Louisa turned around, pointing to the concentric circles of small apple-sized sandbags surrounding the device. They would measure the width of the dome.

Sowar Negi nodded and chewed on his bottom lip.

“Here we go,” Abu yelled as he picked up a sphere and pushed the first symbol in the Seba activation process.

Planet Earth disappeared from the heavy mist, and the Ancients’ symbol pulsed to life on the gray metal. Onward, he moved, pressing symbols on each of the four spheres. When the final step in the instructions remained, he glanced to Miss Louisa, who jutted her chin in ascent. Abu pressed the glyph on the double pyramid and let go. The object floated. The four cantaloupe-sized objects rose into the air.

Light beamed from the spheres connecting the four into a bright square. The diamond zoomed through the square and stopped several feet about it. More flashes came, lashings of light tying the five objects together. The Seba began to spin, an impossible pyramid of light. Translucent blue light rose from the center point. A bowl formed, filling the space under the water sheet spilling over the high cliff.

The spin became impossible to follow until the glowing pyramid looked solid. Abu marveled as the drops of water in the air suddenly froze in place as if time had stopped. In that instant, a giant beam of white exploded upward, and Abu fell. He became the beating heart inside a bolt of lightning.

__________________________

Both hands went to Louisa’s head. Ugh! Another hangover, she thought as she squeezed down harder on her eyelids. She had hoped her second trip across the void would end better than her first, but no luck. At least the roar of the falls had disappeared.

Panic shot through her like the chills accompanying the fast-moving, cool breeze blowing over her soaked clothes. Where are we?

With effort, she opened her eyes. She stared at a half-moon and a sky bursting with stars. Her fear fled with her recognition. They were home. It was her sky. Her moon.

Is it really, though? Home? Louisa questioned herself.

Abu’s shadow appeared in the moonlight, holding out a hand. “Need some help?”

Louisa pushed herself up with her elbows before grabbing his hand. On her feet, she wobbled with the same loss of equilibrium she felt the first time she had done this.

She placed a hand on the young man’s shoulder to balance herself. “Don’t you have a headache?” Her finger and thumb rubbed at her temples. “And aren’t you dizzy?”

“No, ma’am.” Abu shrugged. “I was a little queasy when I first woke up, but that went away quickly.”

Louisa's teeth chattered as she said, “We need to document these physical symptoms. Maybe age contributes to the disorientation,”

Next time I need to bring a jacket. Neither Louisa nor Abu accounted for coming back during a colder desert night.

From behind Abu, Sowar Negi said, “I have a headache, but I wasn’t dizzy this time. I’ll go check the measurements so we can get started back.” He jogged away, dodging several large dark lumps Louisa assumed were boulders.

She felt like herself by the time the sowar returned with the answer. The third circle of sandbags did not cross the universe to Egypt. With at least a fifty-foot diameter, the smaller Seba dome could accommodate everyone, along with extra luggage. Even Chetak fit, though he needed more room. No one wanted to awaken, buried under the mighty warhorse’s haunches.

The smaller setting also allowed them to make more trips on a single charge, though Louisa wasn’t too concerned about that issue. She’d brought all the needed equipment to make returning to the Ancients’ waterfall facility less complicated.

Abu began realigning the device’s components on the barren, hard-packed soil. Rubbing her arms against the cold, Louisa and the sowar watched the young man work in the dark. It took very little time. As Abu asked her permission to get started, the answer to the question troubling Louisa for days struck hard.

The Seba, she thought, holding up a hand to pause the young man. “Abu, how fast could you lay out the Seba and then do all the steps to activate it?”

“Less than a minute. If I practiced for speed, I could do it in thirty seconds.”

Excitement replaced Louisa’s chill as the plan took shape. Her words relayed her mood even if Abu couldn’t see her smile. “Great. Go ahead and take us back.”

Abu asked, “Why’d you ask how fast I could do it?”

Louisa’s mind had moved on to the next problem in her growing plan. “Oh. Just something I’m working on.”

“That usually spells trouble.” Abu pushed the first symbol. It flared to life, lighting up his furrowed brow.

“This time, it’s for a good cause.” She held up a finger. “Though, I’ll need your help.”

Shaking his head, Abu pushed another symbol on the surface of the next sphere, and his face glowed. “Don’t you usually?”

Chuckling, Louisa replied, “I’m pretty good at getting into trouble on my own.” She waved the back of her hand at him. “Let’s get back. I have to climb the cliff and recharge the Seba today.”

Confident the next piece of the puzzle would come to her while clinging to the rock, Louisa hopped from foot to foot as Abu worked the magic. He picked up the double pyramid to finish the sequence. Her mind had already moved on from the headache to come. Focused, she pondered how to get Abu and herself invited to meet Emperor Octavius. The moment before her world flashed white, she thought, We’re coming, Masako. We’re coming.

__________________________

Flames shot from the end of the metal tube and for half a second, momentum built. Tiny vibrations caused the rocket to shimmer on its support rod until it whooshed up and away. Ali tracked the trajectory until it crashed with a crunch into a fallow field almost a mile away.

He counted. At four, an explosion sent a shower of dirt in the air.

“The fuse was too long again.” He rubbed the end of his pencil against his chin. “It’s a fine line. If I take out too much, the operator will be limited on the angle of fire.” Ali penciled in the results, then turned to his assistant Ebony. “Tell them to shorten the warhead fuse by a quarter.”

With blond fur that bordered on white, the female stirithy nodded and said in Greek, “I will, but I agrree. A delayed explossion is betterr than exploding too ssoon. Anything elsse?”

“How is the Hale design going?” Ali watched a Kerman soldier place a thin pole topped by a lashed three-foot rocket into the grooved board. By changing the angle of the V-shaped launch board, the rocketeer controlled the rocket’s trajectory and thus its distance.

“Needss worrk. It won’t be rready in timme,” Ebony’s snout opened and closed with each syllable like a sock puppet.

Glad I went with Dr. McGehee’s Congreve design, Ali thought. “Keep a skeleton crew on testing the new model. Reassign every other metal singer to production. I hope the black powder team will have enough to fill them.”

Ebony made a note on a piece of parchment.

The soldier stepped to the side of the launcher. He stretched out a thin stick topped by a small flame to light the long wick-like fuse hanging from the bottom of the metal-tubed rocket. In seconds, another missile whooshed skyward. Ali monitored the rocket’s flight path. It landed within fifty feet of its target, well within the acceptable area. As the warhead exploded, he nodded his approval. The first models of the missile they built were as likely to turn and fly toward the rocketeer as toward the target. Progress indeed.

The stirithy tapped Ali on the shoulder. With her black-masked face, she waved toward a dark-skinned man wearing a brown tunic standing well back and to the side. The man nodded in acknowledgment. Ali handed his notebook to the assistant and hurried to his spy.

With eyes darting in every direction, the man leaned toward Ali and whispered, “The Earthling woman and the boy took some of their soldiers back up the cliff to the location of the Ancients’ facility under the falls.”

What are you up to, Miss Louisa? Ali could think of only one thing to send the troublemakers back to the power station. “Are they still there?”

The spy shook his head. “They stayed for almost five hours. When they left, I came straight to you, but something unusual happened while they were there.”

Ali waited for several seconds, but when the spy didn’t continue, Ali’s eyes narrowed. “Spit it out, man.”

The spy chuckled. “The falls themselves had an unusual hiccup. The Earthlings had been there for about an hour when water shot up at the top of the falls, and several small rainbows appeared near the disruption. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The Seba? Could they have gotten it working? Ali’s thoughts tripped on the ramifications. “What were they doing when that happened?”

The man shrugged. “I couldn’t get close enough. They posted two guards on the cliff path.”

Did he want the keepers to know about this? If they did power the Seba, why hadn’t they gone home? He needed to convince them to include him in their plans or regain possession of the device. If Ben didn’t let him in, he’d go to the priest and take the Seba by force.

Ali patted the spy on the shoulder. “You did well. Make sure to report to Hem-netjer Rashida. Let him know that I think the Earthlings are searching within the facility again. That they are desperate to go home before the ripvor arrive.”

The man clasped hands with Ali, their matching yellow pinky rings moving up and down. “Understood Keeper.” He walked toward the city, which stood three miles away.

Ali formed a scheme as he moved back to the testing. He would confront Abu first to see if he could cause the young man to slip and give him a hint about what he and Miss Louisa had been doing. Until then, he had plenty of other responsibilities. Ali smiled as a five-rocket barrage exploded down range, carving substantial gouges into the target area.

The reapers’ artillery didn’t stand a chance.

Chapter 17

Nation of Umma, Zoru, An 5660, Day 77

Ben turned in his saddle—the double column of infantry-turned-dragoons extended out of sight, winding through the range of rolling hills. A wall of dark, threatening clouds hung in the distance. After a day and a half of floating on barges down the Tefnut River, their allied forces disembarked. They had ridden hard, trying to intercept the horde. Thankfully, the rain had stayed behind them, or the dirt road they traveled on would be a muddy quagmire.

Ahead of them, they chased a different cloud. A filthy one made of dust and ash. Wind singer scouts reported their expedition would catch the ripvor in two days at worst. Ben turned his focus forward as a commotion rose within the ranks of the Remulan horse archers leading the march. A ripple of noise followed a rider galloping past the legionary auxiliary unit and racing toward Ben.

Twenty yards out, the horseman pulled hard on his reins, and his horse, nostrils flaring, stuttered to a stop. In Greek, the man said, “General McGehee, General Kinya requests your presence at the front.”

“Any other information?”

“No, sir.” The Remulan saluted with a fist to his heart and trotted past Ben.

Ben assumed the rider would deliver the same message to Prince Tambal, who rode with the chariots in the rear detachment.

Lance Duffadar Ram and Umrao pulled up to either side of Ben’s mare. Ram asked, “What do you think?”

Ben removed his hat and wiped his forehead and nape with a bandana. “Not sure. I’ll take Umrao with me and go see what’s happening.”

The lance duffadar saluted, and Ben kicked his horse, clucking his tongue. His mare picked up her gait, and Umrao matched his pace next to him. They passed the thousand Remulans and topped another small hill. In the shallow valley below, wisps of smoke rose from the charred husk of a sizable village. The trail rations he’d eaten that morning soured in Ben’s stomach.

Slapping the reins, Ben pushed his mare into a gallop. He and Umrao slowed near the edge of the ruins. Black wooden supports smoldered within piles of stone rubble where modest houses once stood. They encountered the skeletal remains of a large hound. Or, Ben thought, is that a stirithy?

He described it as a body, but that word was too generous. It was nothing but a canine skeleton. The bones lay sprawled on a walkway that had once led past a small yard to another destroyed building.

Ben’s mare whinnied, her eyes going wide. He patted her neck and whispered, “Shh,” into her agitated, twitching ears.

Crows screamed at one another. They jousted to poke and jerk at the tiny scraps of meat left on the otherwise bare bones. Ben tied his bandana over his face, attempting to block out the smoke and the smells. As they moved deeper into the town, they found human bones and more varied types of scavengers––rats, a kind of ant the size of Ben’s hand, and the ever-present murders of crows, all of which sent Ben’s skin crawling.

During his years at war, he’d never seen anything like this. His mind didn’t want to accept the truth of what he saw.

As the road transitioned from dirt to cobblestone, they passed more and more human, humanoid, and animal remains. Dozens of empty eye sockets followed them as they moved deeper into the slaughtered village. The horses clopped into the center of the square where General Kinya waited. Ben dismounted, leading his horse by the reins toward the traitorous general. Behind the general lay a massive, haphazard stack of bones as tall as Ben’s waist. Swallowing, Ben forced down the bile rising in his throat.

An unkindess of blue-black ravens held court, hopping between femurs, tibias, and skulls of all types on the bony berm. He stepped before the general, trying and failing to look into the man’s eyes instead of staring at the mass grave made of skeletons too small to be adults.

A tear ran down the hardened general’s cheek, and he waved behind him. “This is what we fight. Like locusts, the ripvor kill and eat everything in their path.”

Behind him, someone wretched, liquid spattering the ground. Bent over, Umrao heaved, tears dropping like rain. The lancer held a young girl’s bloodstained hair bow.

Ben squeezed his eyes shut, trying to dispel the horror before him, but knowing these scenes would follow him into the nightmares that stalked him. He turned to the general before choking out, “What do you think happened?”

The general’s eyes drifted to the ground. “They hid the children inside the temple.” His helmeted head angled toward the massive pile of hand-cut stone on one side of the square. “The reapers pulled them out and.” The general’s jaws clenched. “Feasted.”

Lamentations don’t do this justice. This is apocalyptic, Ben thought. How do you fight such unholy creatures?

General Kinya pointed up another road that led away from the square. “We will head northwestward from here. My scouts have marked the fastest way through these hills that can support the supply wagons. By tomorrow night, we will catch and pass the horde.”

Ben pulled out his folded map and flipped it over, holding it between him and the general.

General Kinya pointed to a section marked with mounds and said, “We must turn the ripvor before they reach the Ancients’ road to Abydos. There are no places to ambush them in the Deshert.”

“This looks like our best bet.” Ben’s finger moved to the last low bumps before a straight-as-an-arrow road. “Tomorrow night, we will lay our traps. The next morning, it begins.”

Ben glanced over his shoulder at the children’s graveyard, an icy rage rising deep within.

Chapter 18

Kerma City, Zoru, An 5660, Day 78

Abu flipped the page, and the columns of hieroglyphics blurred together. He rubbed his eyes, wondering if his reluctance to face Ningal was worth the frustration of reading the ancient language himself. When they awoke on Aaru, Abu was a novice in pictorial-based language. Since then, his skill had grown daily, on a slow upward trajectory toward mastery. Too slow. He’d been muddling through today, but with each passing hour, the press of the coming battle grew heavier.

Desperate to contribute to the war effort, Abu hated being fourteen at times like these. Each time he asked Dr. Ben to let him join the Lancers, his guardian refused. Frustrated, Abu doggedly continued his research about past Lamentations and the ripvor. Without a native reader, even that effort had become as helpless as he felt. Ningal read the ancient script with ease, which allowed him to consume three to four times as much information as his current pace.

When he'd first been given permission to peruse the Kerma City Royal Library, he’d thought about asking for her help, but he just couldn’t. Since their last conversation, she’d avoided him as much as possible, even though they couldn’t help but cross paths on the small campus. When that happened, she’d acknowledged him with a fake smile and a nod. The hurt in her eyes generated a fresh wave of guilt at his role in that pain.

Miss Louisa tapped on the page that Abu had been staring at without seeing. “Is there anything you need? I’m going to find some snacks.”

Abu smiled and shook his head. “No, ma’am.”

She smiled back, ruffling his hair before walking down a row of bookshelves toward the enormous library’s main entrance.

As soon as she’d disappeared, Professor Mousa rapped twice on the table.

Abu looked over several short stacks of books toward the far end where Ali sat.

“Any luck?” The academician, who seemed to grow facial hair at a prodigious pace, leaving his face perpetually stubbled, raised an eyebrow.

Wary of the professor’s timing and the man’s intentions, Abu closed the book before him and reached for the next one on top of the nearest stack. “Nothing. What about you?”

Professor Mousa shook his head. “No. Of course, I should have known there wouldn’t be too many Nipponese books on the subject that had been translated.” He picked up a new book from his pile.

“Looks like we have opposite problems. You’ve got little to no information on the use of gunpowder on Aaru, and I have hundreds of volumes to dig through. It’s like looking through the hay wearing a blindfold and not even knowing if there is a needle to find.” Abu chuckled.

“True. True.” The professor laughed, but then his voice turned serious. “I heard you and Miss Louisa returned to the facility under the falls.”

The hackles on the back of Abu’s neck rose. Miss Louisa warned Abu to be on guard as soon as the professor invited himself to their research party. He’s not even being subtle.

“Don’t remind me.” Abu tried to add disgust to his following words, “I need to stop complaining about all this reading because I’d rather read a thousand books than get soaked to the bone for hours on end. I even rubbed my thighs tender again on the walk back down.”

Professor Mousa gave him a sympathetic smile. “That sounds rough. What were you doing that whole time?”

“Miss Louisa wanted to climb back up to the air vent. She hammered metal hooks up the wall so it would be easy to get up and down. When the war is over, she plans to return and search the rest of the facility.”

“Is that right?” The professor’s mouth twisted with doubt.

Abu nodded. Hurry up, Miss Louisa.

“What else happened, Abu?”

Abu tried and failed to stop his eyes from widening. He stammered, “Nothing.”

“I’m not your enemy. Not anymore. I really want to help all of you get back home.”

Abu’s mind whirled with different strategies, and he tried to send the professor on a tangent. “You don’t want to go home?”

Professor Mousa’s leaned back in his chair. “I’ve never thought it was possible. All my life, I’ve been preparing for a one-way trip.” He frowned, and his voice took on a melancholic tone. “The way it happened, I couldn’t say goodbye to my parents.”

Abu squirmed in his seat. “I’m sorry about that.” His regret over his part in sending them to Aaru got the better of Abu, and he rushed to say, “Dr. Ben and Miss Louisa will figure it out. You’ll get to see them again.” He looked down and stammered out. “I’m sure of it.”

Professor Mousa’s head tilted as he straightened in his seat. “Abu, look at me.”

Crap, Abu thought. He raised his gaze but could not meet the professor’s intense glare.

“I can already go home. Can’t I?”

Aallah yusaeiduni, Abu thought.

His nervousness rose. Abu grabbed his forefinger in his other hand and rubbed his thumbnail back and forth, scratching faster as his nervousness grew. What do I say?

“Don’t worry, Abu. I’ll keep it a secret. Just tell me what’s going on.” His calming voice grew stern. “If you don’t, I’ll have no choice.”

Abu’s eyes locked with the Professor’s.

“I’ll have to tell the Keepers. And. They will take the Seba.” The Professor shrugged his hands palms out. “They might never let you go home. It will be out of my hands.”

Abu scrambled to find a way to get himself out of the pit he’d dug. Intrigued by what the professor said, every fiber of his being told him not to trust Mousa, but still, he listened. Maybe Abu could turn their former enemy into a real ally, not just an antagonistic spy. He forced his face to stone as he said, “You're wrong. The Seba doesn’t work.”

Professor Mousa scowled and began to say something, but Abu cut him off. “But. Let’s say hypothetically, we did get the Seba working. Why would you keep that a secret from your masters? What’s in it for you?”

The scruffy man visibly relaxed. “If the Seba can be repowered, it changes everything. The Keepers’ very reason for existing goes away.”

“Why?”

Professor Mousa grinned. “I’ve made many mistakes in this process, and one of the biggest is that I’ve been slow to understand the ramifications of introducing new technology to Aaru. The Keepers’ sole job is to make sure the device can be used to bring back warriors from Earth to fight in the Lamentations. If we can defeat the ripvor this time, they will never again be a credible threat. Aaru will be so transformed by Earth’s technology that the next ripvor invasion will be wiped out almost immediately.”

Abu’s mind raced. They had been so busy fighting for their lives or scrambling to find a way home that they hadn’t considered what came after. Dr. Ben had instantly seen the ramifications of modern guns being introduced to a society with medieval-level warfare. Still, none of them had taken the time to consider other technologies. The printing press, steam-powered ships and trains, and the telegraph- all of these would transform the people and the politics of this planet.

Professor Mousa nodded at Abu, who felt his face flush at the possibilities. What might happen when you combine the Ancients’ magic with all of Earth’s scientific knowledge? In a hundred years, could Aaru surpass Earth’s capabilities? What would happen if one of the Earth’s powers, for example, the British Empire, got hold of the Seba?

Abu’s heart raced, and a sense of panic descended upon him. They would turn all of Aaru into an imperial colony. Whoever controlled the Seba could change the fate of both planets. Abu shook his head and whispered, “Maybe the Keepers should lock the Seba up and ensure no one gets it.”

“Now you are beginning to understand.”

Abu did, but instead of putting him at ease with the professor, it made him even more uncertain, and he thought, What are his motives?

“I bet you’re about to tell me that you’re the man who will benevolently control all the coming change.”

Professor Mousa laughed. “I don’t want to rule the world if that’s what you think. If I did, I’d destroy the Seba and eliminate everyone who might be able to compete with my technological knowledge.” He shook his head. “I’m not smart enough to do this on my own. There’s too much I don’t know. I need the Seba to bring the books and the experts needed to revolutionize Aaru.”

Abu slammed his palm on the table. “Again, why are you the one to do it?”

The older man put his elbows on the table and brought his fingers together. “We can do it together.”

Like a hammer had dropped on his head, Abu sat stunned as the professor continued. “This time, the changes can happen slowly and in a controlled manner. Think of Earth’s chaotic history and how science has changed it. How painful each transition was. I want to create a new organization. The Builders will take on the responsibility so that Aaru skips the messy parts of new breakthroughs.” The Professor flashed an innocent smile. “Will you join me, Abu?”

Abu recognized the merit in the Professor’s words as all his arguments kept falling short. As intrigued as he was, Abu needed to end this conversation before Miss Louisa returned. “When the Lamentations are over, and we recharge the Seba, I’ll consider your proposal. Until then, let’s drop the subject.” He waved past the professor. “Get anything good?”

Professor Mousa twisted to see Miss Louisa bringing a picnic basket their way. He returned his gaze to Abu and gave him a conspiratorial wink.

__________________________

After a light lunch, Abu returned to reading a book written in an old Norse language. Mercifully, the work included a Greek translation on the back of each page. The tome chronicled the lamentations that took place when the Norsemen were brought to Aaru. This was the first volume on that topic, which mentioned the legend of the Vikings finding the cave where the Keepers had hidden all the Ancients’ artifacts. In this account, the historian described a few of the devices the dwarves found in the cave. He claimed there had been more than one Seba device in the cavern.

“Check this out.” Abu waited until both the professor and Miss Louisa looked in his direction. “It says that the cave. The one the dwarves found in the jungle, where all the artifacts were hidden, held several Seba devices.”

“I thought all those rumors were just that rumors.” Professor Mousa pushed his lips to one side, his face doubtful.

Miss Louisa stood and leaned over to see the book. Abu twisted it so she had a good angle. She read for several minutes before saying, “That’s amazing. I wonder where they go.”

Abu hadn’t thought about the devices going anyplace but between Earth and Aaru. He felt silly at having been so short-sighted. The ripvor had a Seba that took them from their home world to Aaru and back. Then there were the home worlds for the stirithy, hysakas, and babiakhom. The Ancients had visited those planets more than eight thousand years ago.

Just how many more worlds had the Ancients visited? Unfortunately, the description of the cave and its contents didn’t provide any more details. If they ever found more Seba devices, Abu knew he could identify the ones that went between Earth and Aaru. He mentally kicked himself because he realized he’d been assuming that all the devices used Aaru as one of the two destinations.

“These Sebas could be going anywhere,” Abu vocalized his thoughts.

“True, but wouldn’t it be fantastic to have another Seba.” After Abu’s eyes darted to the professor, she winked at him. “When we figure out how to power the device, we can keep one of them and give the other back to the Keepers.”

Ali shook his head. “As interesting as that is, it won’t help us defeat the reapers.”

“No. You're right.” Abu frowned. “I’ll keep looking.”

Miss Louisa patted his arm. “You’ll find something.”

He flipped the page in the thick tome and went back to work.

Ali had been gone from the library for over an hour, and a librarian had just warned them that the building would soon close when Abu found it. The elusive pin in the haystack didn’t register on the first reading because his dazed eyes were going through the motions. His subconscious saved him, shooting up a flare, telling him he’d missed something important.

On his second read through the passage, he focused on every word. The text described the Norsemen’s first battle with the ripvor. The Viking army from Earth had yet to gain their superior strength and were on the verge of being slaughtered as they fought their way into Kerma City.

With all hope lost, Ragnhild, Thoresten’s ancestor, used a trumpet carved from some animal’s horn to signal the retreat. Nearby reapers dropped their weapons at each hornblow and shook their heads in pain for several seconds. Seconds that the Norsemen used to break the ripvor line. Ragnhild blew the trumpet until they entered the city.

His voice rising with excitement, Abu said, “Miss Louisa, read this.” He placed the book on top of the one she’d been reading.

“Where?”

Abu jabbed a finger on the page. “Start here.”

He fidgeted with anxious energy for a full minute, waiting for her to finish. As her head rose, Abu started talking as fast as he could, “What do you think happened to the horns? Do you think Thoresten knows? He didn’t mention the horns when he told us the story of his people. What if we’re able to make more of these special trumpets? We’d kick their butts.”

“Slow down.” Miss Louisa laughed. “This is very exciting, but it’s been over a thousand years since that battle occurred. The horns may be gathering dust in some store room, and we would need one to know how to make more. Let’s go see Thoresten and see if he knows anything. If not, I’m not sure who to ask.”

Abu jumped to his feet, his chair teetering back and forth before settling to the floor with a loud thunk. “Let’s go.”

Miss Louisa stood and pointed toward the front of the library. “Run ahead and ask the librarian to put these books aside so we can return later and pick up where we left off. I’ll be right behind you.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Abu jogged between the rows of bookshelves.

“Slow down.” Miss Louisa yelled from behind him.

Abu slowed to a fast walk.

__________________________

Sweat flew in a wide arc from Thoresten’s kimono as the dwarf whirled, chopped, and slashed, practicing his sword forms. Louisa stepped back to avoid being sprinkled by the man’s perspiration. Her body dripped with enough of her own. Abu had pushed them hard on his quest to locate the dwarven samurai. She kept making him slow down. With evening shadows getting long, she understood his impatience, but still, she didn’t see the need to run from the palace pyramid complex to the college campus.

As if he sensed their presence, the dwarf stood straight, flicked his sword to the side, and then sheathed his weapon in what appeared to be a polished ritual.

Abu didn’t let the man finish turning toward them before he spoke in Greek, “Thoresten, we need your help. You’re the only one who might know.”

The stoic samurai rumbled a chuckle at the young man’s raw enthusiasm. “Tell me.” His mirth-filled blue eyes flicked to Louisa, who shared a knowing nod with him.

Abu’s words tumbled out in a verbal avalanche. “I’ve been researching the lamentations to see if I can find anything to help us defeat the reapers. I thought there might be some long-ago tactics that could help. But I found something even better.”

Thoresten held up a hand. “And this something has to do with my first elders?”

“How’d you know?” The youngster’s eyes widened with bewilderment.

Louisa touched Abu’s arm and answered. “Yes, and since you are the only dwarf we know, we came to you. It’s about Ragnhild and his special horn. The history book said that when blown, the horn caused the ripvor pain.”

Thoresten stroked his beard while looking thoughtful. “I’d forgotten that detail, but I remember now. There were two horns.”

Abu bounced on his toes. “Do you know where the trumpets are? What are they made of? Do you think we can make more of them?”

“Hmm.” Thoresten’s lower lip jutted forward as he continued to stroke his beard. “You won’t be able to make any more.”

Abu’s shoulders slumped.

“They’re made out of a horn from some beast back on Earth.”

“Do you know what the beasts were called?” Louisa asked.

The broad-shouldered dwarf held up a finger. “It was called a corpse whale. Narwhal in the old language.” He rumbled another laugh. “Supposedly, my ancestors used to catch these giant fish, and some of them had these long horns. They would sell them to fools who believed they were actual unicorn horns.” He laughed harder. “Too funny.”

Abu didn’t seem to see the humor in it all. His face scrunched in dismay as his voice filled with irritation. “Do you know what happened to the horns after the lamentations?”

The rumbling laughs ended in a cough. “Well. Yes.” Thoresten stiffened. “One was gifted to Hurra for helping grow the ships they rewarded to our first elders and sending hundreds of hysakas to serve the new nations. They gave the second to Grrommerrk for the same reason. They donated the metal for the three fleets and provided a group of stirithy to go with each new nation.”

“Anything else you can remember?” Louisa grabbed hold of Abu’s collar, stopping him in his tracks. He had turned, she assumed, to leave and find Rrummblinss.

“The ripvor adapted after the horns were used effectively during the next two battles. After that, many reapers covered the holes in their heads where their lizard ears are.”

Abu spun around. “Did that stop the horns from working?”

Thoresten shook his head. “Sorry. That’s all I can remember about the legend. Most of what we know of the story is passed down through the songs and stories of our dwarven biwa hoshi.” He must have seen the confusion on their faces because he added, “You might call them bards.”

Louisa bowed her head. “Thank you, Thoresten. You have been a great help.”

“You’re welcome,” the dwarf rumbled.

Abu’s face had turned a brownish red. “Yes. Thank you so much.” Then he turned pleading eyes to Louisa. “Can we go find Rrummblinss now?”

“Yes. But please don’t run. I’m tired, and it’s been a long day.” Louisa waved to Thoresten and gave him an exasperated roll of her eyes.

The boulder of a man shook his head and waved.

__________________________

“When will she be back?” Abu sighed, his patience thinning as he squirmed in the puffy chair.

Rrummblinss twirled his dagger around his four-thumbed hand as he paced in front of the fireplace. “Patiencce young zehorrg.”

Abu narrowed his eyes at the flamboyant golden-furred stirithy. “Isn’t that the fat, furry, flightless bird that tastes like bacon?”

“Exactly.”

“I don’t get it.”

“They arre known to leap arround with boundlessss enerrgy. Jusst like you.”

“If you say so.” Abu shook his head. He always enjoyed his adventures with Rrummblinss, but sometimes became flustered by the stirithy’s big personality. Like Casanova reborn into the body of a four-foot-tall walking, talking, swashbuckling fox, Rrummblinss used as many Aaruan idioms while speaking as he had pickup lines.

“Thank you for waiting for me.” Miss Louisa flowed into the sitting room of the house. She plopped into the empty of the two chairs near the fireplace and sank into its deep cushions. “I sent a message to the Queen asking her to request the Hurrans bring their horn to Kerma City as fast as possible. I expect to hear if she has sent the message by tomorrow afternoon.”

Rrummblinss sheathed his dagger and made a swooping bow to Miss Louisa. “How mmay I help you Mmissss Louissa? Abu ssaid it wass urrgent.”

Miss Louisa smiled at Abu and nodded.

About time, Abu thought before racing to tell the stirithy soldier the story of the narwhal horn. When he finished giving every detail he knew, Abu asked, “Do you know anything about the trumpet? It might help us defeat the ripvor.”

Rrummblin’s ears bent down, and his eyes grew wide with sadness. “I’mm Ssorrrry, Abu. I’ve never hearrd of the horrn.”

Abu’s stomach dropped. The day had been so full of highs and lows, but he wasn’t ready to give up. If anything, he’d prepared to go on an epic quest to find the horn. “If we return to Grrommerrk do you think you could find it?”

“Mmaybe. It would take uss two and a half or thrree khonssu to go therre, find it, and get back.” The stirithy showed them a sharp-toothed grin. “I rremmemmberred. I have a lovely frriend who worrkss in the arrchivess. Sshe can help uss.”

“Of course you do.” Abu rolled his eyes.

Miss Louisa leaned forward. “Did I hear you say us and we?”

Abu looked at his feet, trying to find the right words. She has to let me go. Instead of speaking, he nodded.

A pleasant smile grew on Miss Louisa’s face. “I think that is a wonderful idea. Now that the Remulans are no longer guarding the river, I believe Ben would agree.” Then she turned serious as she addressed Rrummblinss. “I am trusting you to keep him safe.”

The fox-like tail swished as he placed his hand on his stomach.

Miss Louisa held up a hand. “I know, on your honor. Bring him back in one piece, or else.”

“Yess Mma’amm.” Rrummblinss snapped a perfect salute.

“I’ll start packing.” Abu jumped to his feet, visions of unicorn horns and Zanna’s beautiful brown eyes swimming in his head.